Supporting midwives, supporting women. The Maternal Child Health Initiative in Papua New Guinea. Sharing the collaborative experience

Introduction: The Maternal Child Health Initiative was developed in response to the acknowledgement from the Papua New Guinean National Department of Health (NDOH) the high maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity rate was a national emergency. The NDOH identified the need for more trained midwives and doctors in PNG. The Maternal Child Health Initiative (MCHI) was implemented and coordinated by the World Health Organisation Collaborative Centre for Nursing Midwifery and Health Development (WHO CC UTS) and funded by Australian Aid. Aim or rationale: The MCHI aimed to address Papua New Guineas rates of maternal and neonatal mortality and mobidity by focussing on Millennium Development Goal 5: improve maternal health. Innovation: The MCHI sent international expert midwives called Clinical Midwifery Facilitators to work alongside Papua New Guinean tertiary educators to deliver both tertiary education and clinical supervision to midwifery students with the intention of capacity building educators and increasing the midwifery workforce of PNG. This program was the first of it's kind. Discussion: This poster presentation will be authored by a Papua New Guinean tertiary educator, Esther Koski, the 2014–2015, course coordinator of the Bachelor of Midwifery program at Pacific Adventist University in Port Moresby and Bridget Ferguson, clinical midwifery facilitator for the MCHI. The presentation will discuss their collaborative work experiences and relationship building to deliver support and education to Papua New Guinean midwifery students during the 12 month Bachelor of Midwifery program. They will discuss the barriers, challenges and successes along the way. Conclusions and implications for practice: The experience was very enriching for both Bridget and Esther and resulted in producing a life long friendship and two cohorts of graduate midwives who went onto find employment in both urban and rural midwifery across PNG.